I'm an Aussie and fully appreciate and respect Stoner for the exceptional talent that he is, but I also recognise that straight talk and honesty doesn't wash well with other cultures or even in some business sectors.

Carl lewis knew 30 years ago that image was just as important as results (if you had the talent to get the results). 1984 Olympics he was getting his hair done and brand new out of the packet outfits for every final. Mohamad Ali also stated that he couldn't get promoted as a boxer unless he could make the promoters lots of money.

Stoner would have never got a factory Honda ride if he'd never won a race on the Ducati and trundled around in 5th-6th-7th, but if you can pull in the dollars like Rossia can you can "earn" yourself a Factory Yamaha ride.

@bjr.there are still people in the world who couldn't care less what people think of them , especially when its the truth people can't handle.everyone knows stoner is not there to impress anyone with theatrics and false image posing , he also don't need to be a money pulling market to get a factory ride , matter of fact honda offered him double money and no pr commitments to stay with them.as for him never getting a factory ride if he never won a race on ducati! is total crap mate , factories had there keen eye watching him before he even got into the top class , don't forget factory yam wanted him for 07 but vale also had his keen eye on him.

Welcome back Casey. The remaining races will now be worth watching. Some of the boys on the track may not be glad to see you back, but 99 percent of motogp fans are relishing the fact that the 'cat is back amongst the pigeons'. Give em heaps old Mate!!!

@Dave .there were tons of threads back then that mentioned vale never wanted casey as a team mate , stoner was set to sign with yam in the off season of 06 , then all of a sudden the deal was off , there will never be an official statement saying vale blocked it , too damaging to his ego , though he recently stated how angry he was when they signed jlo against his wishes.the no.1 rule in motogp for riders is to beat your team mate , vale spent a lot of time behind stoners new underfunded lcr in 06 to get a good idea what he could do on a factory bike , and stoners style alone was clear indication of what was coming.

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